In the opening moments of Sucker Punch Productions’ highly anticipated Ghost of Yōtei, there is a sequence that lingers in the mind long after the console is turned off. The protagonist bows before her parents’ grave, her blade shimmering in the pale light as she swears a blood oath of vengeance. The music doesn’t just play; it breathes. It swells with the grief of a daughter and sharpens with the grit of a warrior.
While the haunting melodies were composed by Toma Otowa, the seamless way those notes react to the player’s every movement is the work of Udit Srivathsan. As a Music Designer at Sony Interactive Entertainment America, Srivathsan represents a new, vital breed of creative professional in the gaming industry—one who sits at the volatile intersection of high-art composition and complex software engineering.
As video games evolve into 80-hour epics with budgets rivaling Hollywood blockbusters, the “Music Designer” has become an unsung hero of the player experience. We sat down with Srivathsan to discuss his work on Ghost of Yōtei, his recent 2026 Golden Reel Award nomination, and why the future of gaming sounds more immersive than ever.
The Hybrid Role: Beyond the Score
For decades, the average gamer assumed music in games worked like music in movies: a composer writes a piece, and it plays during a scene. But in a massive open-world game like Ghost of Yōtei, which can take upwards of 80 hours to fully explore, a static soundtrack is impossible.
“Music is pivotal to the gaming experience, especially when they’re narrative-driven,” Srivathsan explains. “As incredible as composers are at capturing themes, there is only so much they can write in the time available. A bulk of the creative heavy lifting is done by music designers who edit, re-arrange, and re-compose for the majority of gameplay.”
Srivathsan’s role involves deciding not just what the music sounds like, but how it behaves. It is a logic-based puzzle; if a player is wandering through a snowy forest, the music is sparse and atmospheric. If they spot an enemy camp, the tempo might subtly increase. If they draw their sword, the shamisen and guitars must erupt in unison without a jarring skip in the audio.
“Implementation involves setting up the logic that determines when and how music plays or transitions,” he says. “Everything needs to make sense musically, but also sound seamless so that the music supports gameplay in a non-intrusive way.”
A “Spaghetti Western” in Feudal Japan
The aesthetic of Ghost of Yōtei is a daring blend of traditional Japanese instrumentation and the rugged, lonely atmosphere of a Spaghetti Western. Achieving this balance required Srivathsan to act as a sonic alchemist, blending the sharp, percussive pluck of the Shamisen and the melancholic breath of the Shakuhachi with various guitar textures.
“Finding a good balance was important,” Srivathsan notes. “Using guitar types on their own sounded cool, but to suit the narrative, it was always preferred to pair them with something like a Biwa or the Shamisen. In emotional moments, we took a more sparse approach where story beats were hit gently.”
This attention to detail extended into the “Legends” DLC mode. Composed by Chad Cannon based on Otowa’s themes, the multiplayer mode leans into the supernatural. Srivathsan helped usher in synth elements and eerie textures to represent the “otherworldly” feel of fighting giants and magical monsters. “Everything from combat music encounter systems to death stingers were remade using these new elements to make Legends stand apart from the main game,” he says.
The Road to the Golden Reel
The industry has taken notice of this technical artistry. Srivathsan’s work on Ghost of Yōtei recently earned a 2026 MPSE 73rd Golden Reel Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Music Editing. For Srivathsan, the nomination is a testament to the collaborative “spotting sessions” led by industry veterans like Pete Scaturro and music design leads Sonia Coronado and Andrew Buresh.
“It’s not unlike what film composers do with directors,” Srivathsan explains. “We play through the game week by week to identify places for music to be scored. I was also part of the mix team with Sucker Punch’s audio director Brad Meyer and sound designer Adam Lidbetter, where I provided feedback on how the music sat within the overall soundscape.”
Even in a high-tech studio environment, Srivathsan remains inspired by the raw human element of the recordings. While he doesn’t always interact with the musicians in person, he works with high-fidelity recordings from iconic locations like Oceanway in Nashville.
“The score had a great deal of soloist improvisation on the Shamisen, Guitar, and Shakuhachi,” he says. “It’s very inspiring to hear this and even more satisfying to edit using quality recordings and performances.”
Srivathsan’s journey to the top of the gaming world began in Singapore, followed by rigorous training in music composition and audio engineering at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. This dual background allowed him to bridge the gap between “the notes” and “the numbers.”
His resume reads like a ‘who’s who’ of modern entertainment. Beyond the Ghost franchise, he has contributed to Marvel’s Wolverine, Kena: Scars of Kosmora, Helldivers 2, Destiny 2: Renegades, and MLB The Show 2026. But his expertise isn’t limited to controllers and consoles. Srivathsan has made waves in the world of immersive audio, serving as an Upmix Engineer for the MASTERMINDS II Music Kit Box in Dolby Atmos, working alongside legendary composer Austin Wintory. He has even ventured into the avant-garde, serving as Lead Recording Engineer for Dr. Dark (2025) by the cult-classic band The Residents. Whether he is editing dialogue for feature films like Second Chance or engineering sound for mixed-reality projects, Srivathsan’s philosophy remains the same: the technology should always serve the story.
The Future of Gaming Sound
As the gaming industry continues to grow, the demand for specialists who understand both the soul of a melody and the syntax of a game engine is skyrocketing. Srivathsan is at the forefront of this shift, blurring the lines between composer, sound designer, and technical specialist.
But for the average gamer, the best compliment they can pay to a music designer is that they didn’t “notice” the music transitions at all—that the score felt like a natural extension of their own heartbeat as they traversed the wilds of Yōtei.
“Music is the emotional glue of these massive worlds,” Srivathsan said. “Making sure that glue holds, no matter what the player decides to do, is the ultimate challenge.”
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